All the Colors of the Dark — Chapter 222

222

Patch sat in woodland opposite Monta Clare High School.

Timber beds held morning glory. He had not smelled sweeter air.

When the sun rose he caught himself mirrored in a water table, and for a moment the panic took hold as he frantically smoothed at his hair and wished he might’ve shaved.

Someone once told him that the bad things no longer matter if you choose not to repeat them. But as he saw the first clusters of children ease into their day, he knew second chances were the hardest earn, sometimes beyond reach no matter how much you willed and pushed.

He sat there on the old fallen oak an hour till she showed.

He was not prepared for just how beautiful his daughter had become.

The moment stretched far over the St. Francois Mountains that held them in that wondrous frame. When he took steps toward her he felt himself grow smaller, all the way back to fourteen years old, sitting beside her mother.

He was about to call out, to let her know. But then he saw the cruiser pull through the gates, and he slipped back into the trees.

He did not deserve her.

She did nothing to deserve him.

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